Post on Project 28 - 11/11/2010
Posted by Jacob Rees-Mogg, MP for North East Somerset, at 10:19, Thu 11 November 2010:
It is hard to think of a better cause than helping children have a second chance when life has turned against them. Project 28, which celebrated its fifth birthday last week, does this and is a truly inspirational charity.
It is, perhaps, not sufficiently known that every year dozens of people in our area aged as young as ten to nineteen find themselves trapped by addiction. This can be drink, drugs or both. It is a symptom of a damaged society and can be the result of abuse or neglect. Project 28 tries to pick up these young people and to assist them to help themselves. It is run by a dedicated team of professionals who are often helped by those who have coped with addiction. This has the advantage of ensuring that the children they help feel they are not being lectured or patronised but are learning from the experiences of their contemporaries.
Iain Duncan Smith in his desire to reform the welfare system has, in part, been motivated by the lost generation whose lives were irreparably damaged by their early teens. Anything that gives them a fresh start may lower long-term costs to the State, reduce crime and boost the economy. However, this is not the motivation; it is purely the human one of ensuring that no life is written off before it has begun. It is that which makes it so deeply admirable and those who devote their lives to it so worthy of respect.
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